Pinnochio and Rick Berg

By Greg Wentz
Contributing Writer

I was on Rick Berg’s emailing list. On October 7, 2011, I received an email with an embedded video about the Congressman’s upcoming address to the Western Caucus.  In that video Rick Berg stated, “This year alone more than 200 new rules, with an economic impact of more than $100m a year, were forced on American farmers, ranchers, and small businesses.”

As a small-business owner, my alarm grew as I listened to Rick Berg talk about the tsunami of regulations that would make it difficult if not impossible to continue my business. So I called the Congressman’s office to ask about these new regulations. The aide with whom I spoke was not very helpful. She was unable to identify any specific, new regulations that would hurt my business. When I asked her to mail me the list of 200 regulations referenced in Rick Berg’s video, the conversation became downright frosty. I don’t think that I am on Rick Berg’s mailing list any longer.

Still curious about the 200 regulations, I did some research. On September 15, 2011, Speaker of the House, John Boehner made a similar claim. The Fact Checker for the Washington Post researched Speaker Boehner’s claim. The resulting article, on September 16, embarrassed Mr. Boehner for his misleading statements, and the Speaker’s office publicly acknowledged that the Speaker had overstated.

For more than 15 years, an executive order issued by President Clinton has required that, twice each year, federal agencies and OMB prepare a “unified regulatory agenda” that lists “all regulations under development or review.”

Among the regulations that administrations publish every year are some as simple as bag limits for migratory waterfowl, i.e. the ducks and geese that we North Dakotans enjoy hunting each fall.  Some regulations collected revenues, but others returned money to taxpayers.  Only about a third of those regulations will result in costs to the taxpayer.  A very small number relate to small business.

Perhaps more importantly, this list of 200 “regulations” was merely a proposed list put forth by the various agencies within the federal government. None has yet been enacted.  One in particular was not scheduled for enactment until 2014.

For his misleading representation of the regulations “under development or review.” John Boehner received three Pinocchio’s from the Fact Checker.

Nearly a month later, on October 7, after John Boehner had been publicly chastised for his misleading statements, Rick Berg repeated John Boehner’s mistake. It was disturbing to watch Rick Berg treat Boehner’s misstatements as facts when they had already been discredited in the national press. It was even sadder that Rick Berg embellished on the inaccuracies in Boehner’s statement. Berg stated: 1) that the 200 regulations were already in effect, 2) that each new regulation would cost us $100 million, and 3) they were paralyzing the small-business community. Each of these statements is incorrect, and Rick Berg should have known that they were incorrect when he made his video. 

For your disturbingly misleading statement, Congressman Berg, you are awarded four Pinocchio’s. Even though you and I come from opposite ends of the political spectrum, I will fight for your right to express your opinion. But as the representative of all North Dakotans, you must show integrity when you speak on our behalf.

The video can be viewed on YouTube: http://tiny.cc/rickberg

The specific quote starts at 3:00.

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